History

Air pollution has always accompanied

civilizations. Pollution started from prehistoric
times, when man created the first fires. According
to a 1983 article in the journal Science, "soot"
found on ceilings of prehistoric caves provides
ample evidence of the high levels of pollution that
was associated with inadequate ventilation of
open fires."[4] Metal forging appears to be a key
turning point in the creation of significant air
pollution levels outside the home. Core samples
of glaciers in Greenland indicate increases in
pollution associated with Greek, Roman, and
Chinese metal production.[5]
Urban pollution
Air pollution in the US, 1973
The burning of coal and wood, and the presence
of many horses in concentrated areas made the
cities the primary sources of pollution.
The Industrial Revolution brought an infusion of
untreated chemicals and wastes into local
streams that served as the water supply. King
Edward I of England banned the burning of sea-
coal by proclamation in London in 1272, after its
smoke became a problem;[6][7] the fuel was so
common in England that this earliest of names for
it was acquired because it could be carted away
from some shores by the wheelbarrow.
It was the Industrial Revolution that gave birth to
environmental pollution as we know it today.
London also recorded one of the earlier extreme
cases of water quality problems with the Great
Stink on the Thames of 1858, which led to
construction of the London sewerage
system soon afterward. Pollution issues escalated
as population growth far exceeded viability of
neighborhoods to handle their waste problem.
Reformers began to demand sewer systems and
clean water.[8]
In 1870, the sanitary conditions in Berlin were
among the worst in Europe. August Bebel recalled
conditions before a modern sewer system was
built in the late 1870s:
Waste-water from the houses collected in the
gutters running alongside the curbs and emitted a
truly fearsome smell. There were no public toilets
in the streets or squares. Visitors, especially
women, often became desperate when nature
called. In the public buildings the sanitary facilities
were unbelievably primitive....As a metropolis,
Berlin did not emerge from a state of barbarism
into civilization until after 1870."[9]
The primitive conditions were intolerable for a
world national capital, and the Imperial
German government brought in its scientists,
engineers, and urban planners to not only solve
the deficiencies, but to forge Berlin as the world's
model city. A British expert in 1906 concluded that
Berlin represented "the most complete application
of science, order and method of public life,"
adding "it is a marvel of civic administration, the
most modern and most perfectly organized city
that there is."[10]
The emergence of great factories and
consumption of immense quantities of coal gave
rise to unprecedented air pollution and the large
volume of industrial chemical discharges added to
the growing load of untreated human
waste. Chicago and Cincinnati were the first two
American cities to enact laws ensuring cleaner air
in 1881. Pollution became a major issue in the
United States in the early twentieth century,
as progressive reformers took issue with air
pollution caused by coal burning, water pollution
caused by bad sanitation, and street pollution
caused by the 3 million horses who worked in
American cities in 1900, generating large
quantities of urine and manure. As historian
Martin Melosi notes, the generation that first saw
automobiles replacing the horses saw cars as
"miracles of cleanliness".[11] By the 1940s,
however, automobile-caused smog was a major
issue in Los Angeles.[12]
Other cities followed around the country until early
in the 20th century, when the short lived Office of
Air Pollution was created under the Department of
the Interior. Extreme smog events were
experienced by the cities of Los Angeles
and Donora, Pennsylvania in the late 1940s,
serving as another public reminder.[13]
Air pollution would continue to be a problem in
England, especially later during the industrial
revolution, and extending into the recent past with
the Great Smog of 1952. Awareness of
atmospheric pollution spread widely after World
War II, with fears triggered by reports of
radioactive fallout from atomic warfare and
testing.[14] Then a non-nuclear event – the Great
Smog of 1952 in London – killed at least 4000
people.[15] This prompted some of the first major
modern environmental legislation: the Clean Air
Act of 1956.
Pollution began to draw major public attention in
the United States between the mid-1950s and
early 1970s, when Congress passed the Noise
Control Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water
Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.[16]

Smog Pollution in Taiwan

Severe incidents of pollution helped increase
consciousness. PCB dumping in the Hudson
River resulted in a ban by the EPA on
consumption of its fish in 1974. National news
stories in the late 1970s – especially the long-
term dioxin contamination at Love Canal starting
in 1947 and uncontrolled dumping in Valley of the
Drums – led to the Superfund legislation of 1980.
[17]
 The pollution of industrial land gave rise to the
name brownfield, a term now common in city
planning.
The development of nuclear science
introduced radioactive contamination, which can
remain lethally radioactive for hundreds of
thousands of years. Lake Karachay – named by
the Worldwatch Institute as the "most polluted
spot" on earth – served as a disposal site for
the Soviet Union throughout the 1950s and
1960s. Chelyabinsk, Russia, is considered the
"Most polluted place on the planet".[18]
Nuclear weapons continued to be tested in
the Cold War, especially in the earlier stages of
their development. The toll on the worst-affected
populations and the growth since then in
understanding about the critical threat to human
health posed by radioactivity has also been a
prohibitive complication associated with nuclear
power. Though extreme care is practiced in that
industry, the potential for disaster suggested by
incidents such as those at Three Mile
Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima pose a
lingering specter of public mistrust. Worldwide
publicity has been intense on those disasters.
[19]
 Widespread support for test ban treaties has
ended almost all nuclear testing in the
atmosphere.[20]
International catastrophes such as the wreck of
the Amoco Cadiz oil tanker off the coast
of Brittany in 1978 and the Bhopal disaster in
1984 have demonstrated the universality of such
events and the scale on which efforts to address
them needed to engage. The borderless nature of
atmosphere and oceans inevitably resulted in the
implication of pollution on a planetary level with
the issue of global warming. Most recently the
term persistent organic pollutant (POP) has come
to describe a group of chemicals such
as PBDEs and PFCs among others. Though their
effects remain somewhat less well understood
owing to a lack of experimental data, they have
been detected in various ecological habitats far
removed from industrial activity such as the Arctic,
demonstrating diffusion and bioaccumulation after
only a relatively brief period of widespread use.
Plastic Pollution in Ghana, 2018

Plastic pollution on the remote island of Maui, Hawaii

A much more recently discovered problem is
the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge
concentration of plastics, chemical sludge and
other debris which has been collected into a large
area of the Pacific Ocean by the North Pacific
Gyre. This is a less well known pollution problem
than the others described above, but nonetheless
has multiple and serious consequences such as
increasing wildlife mortality, the spread of invasive
species and human ingestion of toxic chemicals.
Organizations such as 5 Gyres have researched
the pollution and, along with artists like Marina
DeBris, are working toward publicizing the issue.
Pollution introduced by light at night is becoming a
global problem, more severe in urban centres, but
nonetheless contaminating also large territories,
far away from towns.[21]
Growing evidence of local and global pollution
and an increasingly informed public over time
have given rise to environmentalism and
the environmental movement, which generally
seek to limit human impact on the environment.
Forms of pollution

The Lachine Canal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Blue drain and yellow fish symbol used by the UK

Environment Agency to raise awareness of the
ecological impacts of contaminating surface drainage.
The major forms of pollution are listed below
along with the particular contaminant relevant to
each of them:
 Air pollution: the release of chemicals
and particulates into the atmosphere. Common
gaseous pollutants include carbon
monoxide, sulfur
dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
and nitrogen oxides produced by industry and
motor vehicles.
Photochemical ozone and smog are created as
nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react to
sunlight. Particulate matter, or fine dust is
characterized by their micrometre size PM10 to
PM2.5.
 Electromagnetic pollution: the overabundance
of electromagnetic radiation in their non-
ionizing form, like radio waves, etc, that people
are constantly exposed at, especially in large
cities. It's still unknown whether or not those
types of radiation have any effects on human
health, though.
 Light pollution: includes light trespass, over-
illumination and astronomical interference.
 Littering: the criminal throwing of inappropriate
man-made objects, unremoved, onto public and
private properties.
 Noise pollution: which encompasses roadway
noise, aircraft noise, industrial noise as well as
high-intensity sonar.
 Plastic pollution: involves the accumulation of
plastic products and microplastics in the
environment that adversely affects wildlife,
wildlife habitat, or humans.
 Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are
released by spill or underground leakage.
Among the most significant soil
contaminants are hydrocarbons, heavy
metals, MTBE,[22] herbicides, pesticides and chlo
rinated hydrocarbons.
 Radioactive contamination, resulting from 20th
century activities in atomic physics, such as
nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons
research, manufacture and deployment.
(See alpha emitters and actinides in the
environment.)
 Thermal pollution, is a temperature change in
natural water bodies caused by human
influence, such as use of water as coolant in a
power plant.
 Visual pollution, which can refer to the
presence of overhead power lines,
motorway billboards, scarred landforms (as
from strip mining), open storage of
trash, municipal solid waste or space debris.
 Water pollution, by the discharge
of wastewater from commercial and industrial
waste (intentionally or through spills)
into surface waters; discharges of untreated
domestic sewage, and chemical contaminants,
such as chlorine, from treated sewage; release
of waste and contaminants into surface
runoff flowing to surface waters (including urban
runoff and agricultural runoff, which may contain
chemical fertilizers and pesticides; also
including human feces from open defecation –
still a major problem in many developing
countries); groundwater pollution from waste
disposal and leaching into the ground, including
from pit latrines and septic
tanks; eutrophication and littering.
Pollutants
Main article: Pollutant
A pollutant is a waste material that pollutes air,
water, or soil. Three factors determine the severity
of a pollutant: its chemical nature, the
concentration, the area affected and the
persistence.
Cost of pollution
Pollution has a cost.[23][24][25] Manufacturing activities
that cause air pollution impose health and clean-
up costs on the whole of society, whereas the
neighbors of an individual who chooses to fire-
proof his home may benefit from a reduced risk of
a fire spreading to their own homes. A
manufacturing activity that causes air pollution is
an example of a negative externality in
production. A negative externality in production
occurs “when a firm’s production reduces the well-
being of others who are not compensated by the
firm."[26] For example, if a laundry firm exists near a
polluting steel manufacturing firm, there will be
increased costs for the laundry firm because of
the dirt and smoke produced by the steel
manufacturing firm.[27] If external costs exist, such
as those created by pollution, the manufacturer
will choose to produce more of the product than
would be produced if the manufacturer were
required to pay all associated environmental
costs. Because responsibility or consequence for
self-directed action lies partly outside the self, an
element of externalization is involved. If there are
external benefits, such as in public safety, less of
the good may be produced than would be the
case if the producer were to receive payment for
the external benefits to others. However, goods
and services that involve negative externalities in
production, such as those that produce pollution,
tend to be over-produced and underpriced since
the externality is not being priced into the market.
[26]

Pollution can also create costs for the firms

producing the pollution. Sometimes firms choose,
or are forced by regulation, to reduce the amount
of pollution that they are producing. The
associated costs of doing this are called
abatement costs, or marginal abatement costs if
measured by each additional unit.[28] In 2005
pollution abatement capital expenditures and
operating costs in the US amounted to nearly $27
billion.[29]
Socially optimal level of pollution
Society derives some indirect utility from pollution,
otherwise there would be no incentive to pollute.
This utility comes from the consumption of goods
and services that create pollution. Therefore, it is
important that policymakers attempt to balance
these indirect benefits with the costs of pollution in
order to achieve an efficient outcome.[30]

A visual comparison of the free market and socially

optimal outcomes.
It is possible to use environmental economics to
determine which level of pollution is deemed the
social optimum. For economists, pollution is an
“external cost and occurs only when one or more
individuals suffer a loss of welfare,” however,
there exists a socially optimal level of pollution at
which welfare is maximized.[31] This is because
consumers derive utility from the good or service
manufactured, which will outweigh the social
cost of pollution until a certain point. At this point
the damage of one extra unit of pollution to
society, the marginal cost of pollution, is exactly
equal to the marginal benefit of consuming one
more unit of the good or service.[32]
In markets with pollution, or other negative
externalities in production, the free
market equilibrium will not account for the costs of
pollution on society. If the social costs of pollution
are higher than the private costs incurred by the
firm, then the true supply curve will be higher. The
point at which the social marginal cost and
market demand intersect gives the socially
optimal level of pollution. At this point, the quantity
will be lower and the price will be higher in
comparison to the free market equilibrium.
[32]
 Therefore, the free market outcome could be
considered a market failure because it “does not
maximize efficiency”.[26]
This model can be used as a basis to evaluate
different methods of internalizing the externality.
Some examples include tariffs, a carbon
tax and cap and trade systems.
Sources and causes

Air pollution produced by ships may alter clouds,

affecting global temperatures.
Air pollution comes from both natural and human-
made (anthropogenic) sources. However, globally
human-made pollutants from combustion,
construction, mining, agriculture and warfare are
increasingly significant in the air pollution
equation.[33]
Motor vehicle emissions are one of the leading
causes of air pollution.[34][35][36] China, United
States, Russia, India[37] Mexico, and Japan are the
world leaders in air pollution emissions. Principal
stationary pollution sources include chemical
plants, coal-fired power plants, oil refineries,
[38]
 petrochemical plants, nuclear waste disposal
activity, incinerators, large livestock farms (dairy
cows, pigs, poultry, etc.), PVC factories, metals
production factories, plastics factories, and
other heavy industry. Agricultural air pollution
comes from contemporary practices which include
clear felling and burning of natural vegetation as
well as spraying of pesticides and herbicides [39]
About 400 million metric tons of hazardous
wastes are generated each year.[40] The United
States alone produces about 250 million metric
tons.[41] Americans constitute less than 5% of
the world's population, but produce roughly 25%
of the world's CO
2,[42] and generate approximately 30% of world's
waste.[43][44] In 2007, China overtook the United
States as the world's biggest producer of CO
2,[45] while still far behind based on per capita
pollution (ranked 78th among the world's nations).
[46]

An industrial area, with a power plant, south

of Yangzhou's downtown, China
In February 2007, a report by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), representing the work of 2,500 scientists,
economists, and policymakers from more than
120 countries, confirmed that humans have been
the primary cause of global warming since 1950.
Humans have ways to cut greenhouse gas
emissions and avoid the consequences of global
warming, a major climate report concluded. But to
change the climate, the transition from fossil fuels
like coal and oil needs to occur within decades,
according to the final report this year from the
UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC).[47]
Some of the more common soil contaminants
are chlorinated hydrocarbons (CFH), heavy
metals (such as chromium, cadmium – found in
rechargeable batteries, and lead – found in
lead paint, aviation fuel and still in some
countries, gasoline), MTBE, zinc, arsenic and ben
zene. In 2001 a series of press reports
culminating in a book called Fateful
Harvest unveiled a widespread practice of
recycling industrial byproducts into fertilizer,
resulting in the contamination of the soil with
various metals. Ordinary municipal landfills are
the source of many chemical substances entering
the soil environment (and often groundwater),
emanating from the wide variety of refuse
accepted, especially substances illegally
discarded there, or from pre-1970 landfills that
may have been subject to little control in the U.S.
or EU. There have also been some unusual
releases of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins,
commonly called dioxins for simplicity, such
as TCDD.[48]
Pollution can also be the consequence of a
natural disaster. For example, hurricanes often
involve water contamination from sewage,
and petrochemical spills from
ruptured boats or automobiles. Larger scale and
environmental damage is not uncommon when
coastal oil rigs or refineries are involved. Some
sources of pollution, such as nuclear power plants
or oil tankers, can produce widespread and
potentially hazardous releases when accidents
occur.
In the case of noise pollution the dominant source
class is the motor vehicle, producing about ninety
percent of all unwanted noise worldwide.
Effects
Human health
Further information: Soil pollution §  Health
effects, Toxic hotspots, and List of pollution-
related diseases
Overview of main health effects on humans from some
common types of pollution.[49][50][51]
Adverse air quality can kill many organisms,
including humans. Ozone pollution can
cause respiratory disease, cardiovascular
disease, throat inflammation, chest pain,
and congestion. Water pollution causes
approximately 14,000 deaths per day, mostly due
to contamination of drinking water by
untreated sewage in developing countries. An
estimated 500 million Indians have no access to a
proper toilet,[52][53] Over ten million people in India
fell ill with waterborne illnesses in 2013, and 1,535
people died, most of them children.[54] Nearly 500
million Chinese lack access to safe drinking
water.[55] A 2010 analysis estimated that 1.2 million
people died prematurely each year
in China because of air pollution.[56] The high smog
levels China has been facing for a long time can
do damage to civilians' bodies and cause different
diseases.[57] The WHO estimated in 2007 that air
pollution causes half a million deaths per year in
India.[58] Studies have estimated that the number
of people killed annually in the United States
could be over 50,000.[59]
Oil spills can cause skin irritations and rashes.
Noise pollution induces hearing loss, high blood
pressure, stress, and sleep
disturbance. Mercury has been linked
to developmental deficits in children
and neurologic symptoms. Older people are
majorly exposed to diseases induced by air
pollution. Those with heart or lung disorders are at
additional risk. Children and infants are also at
serious risk. Lead and other heavy metals have
been shown to cause neurological problems.
Chemical and radioactive substances
can cause cancer and as well as birth defects.
An October 2017 study by the Lancet
Commission on Pollution and Health found that
global pollution, specifically toxic air, water, soils
and workplaces, kills nine million people annually,
which is triple the number of deaths caused by
AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and 15
times higher than deaths caused by wars and
other forms of human violence.[60] The study
concluded that "pollution is one of the great
existential challenges of the Anthropocene era.
Pollution endangers the stability of the Earth’s
support systems and threatens the continuing
survival of human societies."[3]
Environment

Great Pacific garbage patch

Pollution has been found to be present widely in
the environment. There are a number of effects of
this:
 Biomagnification describes situations where
toxins (such as heavy metals) may pass
through trophic levels, becoming exponentially
more concentrated in the process.

Global carbon dioxide emissions by jurisdiction

 Carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean

acidification, the ongoing decrease in the pH of
the Earth's oceans as CO
2 becomes dissolved.
 The emission of greenhouse gases leads
to global warming which affects ecosystems in
many ways.
 Invasive species can outcompete native
species and reduce biodiversity. Invasive plants
can contribute debris and biomolecules
(allelopathy) that can alter soil and chemical
compositions of an environment, often reducing
native species competitiveness.
 Nitrogen oxides are removed from the air by
rain and fertilise land which can change the
species composition of ecosystems.
 Smog and haze can reduce the amount of
sunlight received by plants to carry
out photosynthesis and leads to the production
of tropospheric ozone which damages plants.
 Soil can become infertile and unsuitable for
plants. This will affect other organisms in
the food web.
 Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can
cause acid rain which lowers the pH value of
soil.
 Organic pollution of watercourses can
deplete oxygen levels and reduce species
diversity.
Environmental health information
The Toxicology and Environmental Health
Information Program (TEHIP)[61] at the United
States National Library of Medicine (NLM)
maintains a comprehensive toxicology and
environmental health web site that includes
access to resources produced by TEHIP and by
other government agencies and organizations.
This web site includes links to databases,
bibliographies, tutorials, and other scientific and
consumer-oriented resources. TEHIP also is
responsible for the Toxicology Data Network
(TOXNET)[62] an integrated system of toxicology
and environmental health databases that are
available free of charge on the web.
TOXMAP is a Geographic Information System
(GIS) that is part of TOXNET. TOXMAP uses
maps of the United States to help users visually
explore data from the United States
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Toxics
Release Inventory and Superfund Basic Research
Programs.
School outcomes
A 2019 paper linked pollution to adverse school
outcomes for children.[63]
Worker productivity
A number of studies show that pollution has an
adverse effect on the productivity of both indoor
and outdoor workers.[64][65][66][67]
Regulation and monitoring
Main article: Regulation and monitoring of
pollution
To protect the environment from the adverse
effects of pollution, many nations worldwide have
enacted legislation to regulate various types of
pollution as well as to mitigate the adverse effects
of pollution.
s